Needle for knitting machines



Nov. 23, 1954 c, NQE 2,694,909

NEEDLE FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 10, 1952 INVENTOR.

Harold C. Noe

ZMKM I ATTORNEY United States 2,594,909 Patented Nov. 23, 1954 NEEDLE FOR KNITTING MACHINES Harold C. Noe, Upper Montclair, N. J., assignor to Kidde Manufacturing (30., Inc., l'lloomfield, N. .L, a corporation of Delaware Application January 10, 1952, Serial No. 265,824 8 Claims. (Cl. 66-116) The present invention relates to knitting machine needles, and, more particularly to improvements in the hook section thereof.

In knitting coarse yarns which have a diameter about equal to the space between the needles and/or in kn tting yarns or wires which do not readily slide through guides, it has been customary to feed the yarn to the needles through tubes instead of the usual yarn guides associated with the knitting elements of knitting machines. A difliculty commonly encountered in utilizing such tubes is that the yarn may be delivered to the wrong gate or needle, particularly where it is required that the yarn must cross or pass over more than one gate, whereby imperfect fabric is produced or needle breakage occurs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide improved needles for use in machines wherein the yarn is fed or supplided to the needles through tubes which overcomes the dimculties heretofore encountered.

Another object is to provide such a needle which is stronger in construction at the point in the hook section thereof where breakage is most likely to occur.

A further object is to accomplish the foregoing Without any material increase in cost of the needle.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

In acordance with the invention, it has been found that the foregoing objects can be acomplished by providing a knitting machine needle comprising a shank, a pointed hook at the upper end of the shank, and a web section extending rearwardly of the point of the hook from about the midpoint of the bend of the hook and downwardly to about the point where the hook and the shank merge.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description, and is shown in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Fig. l is an enlarged side elevational view of the hook end portion of a needle, illustrating the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the portion or" the needle shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 on Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown the hook end portion of a knitting machine needle essentially comprising a shank 10, a hook 11 at the upper end of the shank having a point 12, and a web section or formation 14 at the outer edge of the needle, about to be described in detail, having the general appearance of a cocks comb.

The web section 14 is generally triangular in shape, and has a substantially horizontal upper edge 15 substantially perpendicularly disposed with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shank and extending rearwardly of the point of the hook from about the midpoint 16 of the bend of the hook and has a substantially vertical rear edge 17 extending downwardly from adjacent the upper edge to about a point 19 substantially in vertical alignment with the rear edge of the shank, about where the hook and the shank merge. The edges 15 and 17 are disposed at substantially right angles and the corner 20 at which the edges approach each other preferably is rounded.

As illustrated herein, the web section has flattened parallel side faces 21 and has a smaller width than shank and the hook of the needle (Figs. 2 and 3).

The upper edge of this web section presents a sharp corner which is adapted to be positioned close to the tube and thereby serve as an element for guiding the yarn to the hook of the needle and into its proper gate. This form of needle is particularly useful where the yarn must pass over more than one gate during the patterning movement of the knitting elements, and where the yarn is coarse, stiff or not readily slidable. In addition, the web section reinforces the needle in the rear bend of the hook, the point at which needle breakage is most likely to occur. Such strengthening and reduction of needle breakage is provided without increase in needle material or cost of making the needles. Both latch type and bearded needles can be provided with the improvements in accordance with the present invention.

The needle shown herein, so far as the improvements in the hook are concerned, preferably is formed of tapered metallic Wire stock by first bending the upper end thereof to provide the hook 11 pressing, hammering, squeezing, rolling or swaging the upper end of the needle to provide flattened side faces 22 and further so treating the region of the hook between about the points 16 and 19 to provide the web section 14 formed with the flattened side faces 21.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides a novel and improved needle which can be made in a simple and economical manner. In addition to being particularly adapted for tube fed yarn, the needle is sulhciently rugged in construction to Withstand such rough usage to which it may be subjected when utilized in machines operated at high speeds or wherein the yarn is supplied under high tension or the yarn is coarse or stiff. It will be noted that these improvements are attained without increasing the mass of the needle.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A knitting machine needle comprising a shank, a pointed hook at the upper end of the shank, and a gen erally triangular web section extending rearwardly of the point of said hook from about the midpoint of the bend of said hook and downwwardly to about the point where said hook and said shank merge.

2. A needle according to claim 1, wherein said web section has a smaller width than said shank.

3. A needle according to claim 1, where said web section has flattened parallel side faces.

4. A needle according to claim 1, wherein said web section has a smaller width than the point of said hook.

5. A needle according to claim 1, wherein said generally triangular web section has a substantially horizontal edge, and a substantially vertical edge disposed at substantially a right angle to each other.

6. A needle according to claim 5, wherein the corner at which said edges approach each other is rounded.

7. A needle according to claim 6, wherein said substantially vertical edge has a curved surface.

8. A knitting machine needle comprising a shank, a hook at the upper end of the shank and a web formation at the outer edge of the needle having an edge substantially perpendicularly disposed with respect to the loagitudinal axis of said shank and extending rearwardly from about the midpoint of the bend of said hook and terminating at a point substantially in vertical alignment with the rear edge of said shank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,297,428 Wilcomb Mar. 18, 1919 2,202,945 Broberg June 4, 1940 

